Leonardo D'Ambrosio for deathbyemptyplates' bachelorette challenge.
Born in 1855 to a wealthy Italian count and his third of four eventual wives, Leonardo D'Ambrosio soon established himself as the troublemaker among his twelve brothers and sisters. Quick-witted and unnervingly intelligent but easily bored and possessing a pronounced mischievous streak, he spent his childhood years pulling pranks on his siblings and schoolmates and terrorizing the family's numerous nannies, tutors, and other household servants. Nevertheless, the boy almost always managed to avoid punishment, using his smooth tongue and effortless charm to talk his way out of any real trouble.
So, when on his twenty-fifth birthday his father declared him an incurable mooch and told him to pack his bags or shape up and make something of his life, Leo sincerely doubted the man's conviction. "Give him a week, and he'll start to worry and ask me home," he insisted to anyone who'd listen, but after a month of wearing out his welcome at his brother's house he found himself once again homeless and growing dangerously close to broke.
Fortunately, that very day he learned about a lovely young woman who just so happened to be in the market for a husband. Not just any woman, of course, but the one and only heiress to the Burnette family estate. Having heard more than enough, Leo immediately made up his mind to try and win her hand in marriage, but can he disguise his true motives and earn her love or will she see past his irresistible smile and recognize him for what he really is- a spoiled, lazy freeloader?
Charismatic | Great Kisser | Irresistible | Lucky | Mooch